in 2007, since 2007 employees of murray energy and its subsidiaries along with their families and the murray pac, well, they have contributed over $1.4 million to republican candidates for federal office. murray's fundraisers have benefited the likes of scott brown, rand paul, david vitter, carly fiorina, and jim demint down at south carolina. murray's pac is also lending a big hand to who? josh mandel in ohio who is of course going after sherrod brown in the senate race in the buckeye state. let's turn to alec mcgillis, a writer for "the new republic." his report, "coal miners donor" details robert murray's efforts to pressure his employees into donating to republican causes. great to have you with us tonight. appreciate your time. >> thanks for having me. >> you had i understand several sources come forward and tell you about this pressure to contribute. what surprised you the most? what did you find out? >> i guess i was surprised at just how long this has been going on and we haven't really heard about it. this is an amazing, years long, widespread system that's been going on wher